• Crypto asset inflows recorded one of their worst years in 2022, with a total inflow of only $433 million, compared to the $9.1 billion in 2021.
• Institutional investors remain highly wary of the crypto market, with the largest weekly outflows for the year coming out to 0.7%.
• Bitcoin still leads the market, commanding more than half of the recorded value at $287 million.
The year 2022 was a tumultuous one for the crypto asset market, with market dips and crashes that saw over $2 trillion wiped off its market cap, leading to a massive pull-out of investor money. As a result, institutional investors recorded the lowest cumulative figure for crypto asset investments since 2018. A report from CoinShares outlines the year 2022 in review and how the crypto assets being invested in had done. It showed that for the whole of the year, the total inflows came out to $433 million. This was a dramatic decline from the $9.1 billion in 2021, a sign of the wariness with which many institutional investors had approached the market in the face of the bearish trend.
Compared to 2018, the outflows for 2022 were relatively lower. The largest weekly outflows for the year came out to only 0.7%, a figure that was encouraging despite the decline in inflows. Nevertheless, such a large dump shows that institutional investors remain highly wary of the crypto market, and it could continue into 2023 if there is no recovery.
It is important to note where most of the inflows for crypto asset investments had gone for 2022. Once again, bitcoin leads the market, commanding more than half of the recorded value at $287 million. This was a testament to the resilience of bitcoin and its continuing dominance of the market. Ethereum was in second place, taking up a significant portion of the inflows at $90.4 million. Other crypto assets such as Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Cardano also gained some traction, but the lion’s share of investments still remained with bitcoin.
In conclusion, the year 2022 was a difficult one for crypto asset investments, with the market seeing one of its worst years since 2018. With investor wariness still high, the onus is on the market to show some signs of recovery if it wants to attract more institutional investors. Bitcoin may have come out strong, but it is still up to the other crypto assets to prove their worth and show investors that they can make a good return on their investments.
